Junior Team athletes flourish at training camps
This is an exciting time for the Junior Team, after just
completing a second prep period camp in Saas Fee, Switzerland in
October and now looking forward to a five week training and race
camp in Colorado, USA. With cooperating weather forecasts and great
snow conditions, the October camp was a great success for all of
the Junior Team athletes who attended. It was a focused camp on SL
and GS, with emphasis on continuing to build and work on the
fundamentals. With various World Cup athletes training alongside
the Junior Team, athletes were both inspired and motivated to work
hard, gearing up the intensity day by day to get ready for the
competition season ahead. The first morning started with a
whirlwind of excitement as the athletes received their team kit
from Colmar. With pride and energy for the first day on snow, the
athletes wore their kit and for the first time, together felt like
a National Junior Team! This was a really great moment and big
thanks go to Colmar for their support of the Junior Team this
season! While the snow came falling down on the morning we packed
up the bus to head home for a two week rest and recovery period,
there were certainly some bittersweet feelings, as most athletes
just wanted to stay and ski, especially with the new snowfall!
However, everyone left the camp feeling good, fresh and ready to
head to Colorado to compete and represent GB! The full time
athletes will be leaving on 16th November for
Silverthorne, Colorado, where we will be training in preparation
for the first Nor-Am tech events of the season. In December we will
be joined by the part time Junior Team athletes, who will train and
race in Loveland and Winter Park in preparation for six races
towards the end of December, before returning back to the UK for
what we hope will be a snowy Christmas!
A very big thank you also goes out to Switzerland Tourism for their continued support for the Junior Team camps in Saas Fee, Switzerland!
It has been a challenging project to get the Junior Team up and running, and with new guidance, new management and new athletes, it is a fresh and exciting start for the Junior Team and for British Skiing. The athletes are what matter the most and I hope as the Junior Team Coach that I and the rest of the BSS team can continue to support the athletes needs and help them achieve their goals in ski racing! We have a full time women's Junior Team programme, with a very experienced coach, Jonny Rice (former New Zealand Team Member) who will be leading the girls this season- they will be based in Zell am See, Austria. This is extremely exciting for the women's side of British Skiing and the full time girls are really looking forward to a fun and successful season! With all new adventures, comes new challenges, and I hope that with the continued encouragement from the Junior Team supporters, we can continue to build, improve and evolve the Junior Team to be a competitive programme! Thank you to everyone for their support and we will send through an update from the U.S. ! Hope to see you all on the hill this season!
Here are some photos from the Saas Fee Summer Camp and the October camp.
